Guidance comes after calls for a total ban for under-16s and a statuary ban on mobile phone use in schools
  • Mountain_Mike_420@lemmy.mlEnglish
    604·
    6 months ago

    Please don’t give kids smartphones period. A smart watch is far less addictive and just as valuable to parents and kids (parents can track location, kids can still make phone calls and txt.) other suggestions are a dumb phone (think t9 txting), or just let them go phoneless.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      142·
      6 months ago

      Those watches with tracking built in are certainly popular in my area, but I absolutely refuse to use it. Kidnapping just isn’t a thing (the majority of kidnappings is by a trusted family member/friend), and I don’t think kids should get accustomed to someone constantly looking over their shoulder. I’ve gotten my kids “smart” watches (fun Minecraft watches with built-in games and whatnot), and there’s no tracking or internet access whatsoever.

      If kids need to call, they can ask a trusted adult to borrow a phone. If I trust my kid, they can borrow my spare. Kids don’t need a phone of their own until they can at least get around on their own (e.g. driver’s license or parental permission to leave the neighborhood on their own), and for me, that’s like 14yo. I have a 10yo, and there’s no way I’m giving them a phone now or in the next year. They’re really responsible, but they don’t need it at all.

  • bulwark@lemmy.worldEnglish
    302·
    6 months ago

    My kids are around that age and it’s a real struggle when all of their friends have one.

    • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      221·
      6 months ago

      There is a growing tide of data suggesting the fight is worth it, but understand it is a serious struggle.

      Much like trying to get kids to eat healthy when they are surrounded by so much awful food in the US.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.worldEnglish
        22·
        6 months ago

        I wish I didn’t need an Android phone for work, WhatsApp, Telegram, maps.

        But I sadly do.

          • rottingleaf@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            6 months ago

            No sane people use iPhones where I live. It was a thing of glamorous girls and people not doing actual work for some time, but now even them I don’t see with iPhones.

            For me personally - as it’s something I need, but not something I want to invest into, nor something I like, the Android phone I use for these things (another SIM) was almost as cheap as the dumbphone I use for calls. Comparable to groceries for a week.

            I don’t think there are iPhones one can buy for that price, ha-ha.

  • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    221·
    6 months ago

    Is it the phone, or the social media? The article only really mentions social media as the real issue.

    Subsequently, does that mean social media on a computer is 100% A-OK? (this is a mobile phone carrier so it makes sense that they’d only focus on phones)

  • Sundial@lemm.eeEnglish
    182·
    6 months ago

    You definitely see a difference in children who are regularly given phones to keep them occupied. They’re just so much more hyper active. I know a lot of teachers have been complaining about phone use in the classrooms. In Canada they just started rolling back against rules saying teachers can’t confiscate phones.

  • John_CalebBradberton@lemmy.worldEnglish
    141·
    6 months ago

    Don’t give them a phone until they are prepared to see everything the Internet has. Kids can be smart and will find ways around the blocks you put in place.

    • abigscaryhobo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      6 months ago

      The thing I tell people is that as a parent, you are going to put maybe a few hours into blocking them from getting to stuff. They are then going to spend as much time as they want trying to get through it. You can dig through concrete with a spoon if you’re patient enough.

      Educate them, and give them access when they’re responsible enough

  • Macropolis@lemmy.worldEnglish
    132·
    6 months ago

    Just don’t do it people. Me and so many parents have horror stories. Even without social media these phone numbers get out one way or another. For us it was much more trouble than it was worth.

    • Clent@lemmy.worldEnglish
      72·
      6 months ago

      I haven’t had a problem.

      iPhone with Screen time and communication limits means I can control how much time they spend in the device and in which apps and I control who they can contact.

      Don’t approve any apps that allow social features.

      Talk to them about the realities of the internet and the wider world.

      All of this has to happen at some point. If you just hand off a phone to an 11 year old or even a 14 year old workout doing any of the above, you’re still going to have issues.

      Much of what is being said about tech is the same as was said about tv and video games. The only studies you’re going to hear about this are the ones that confirm the societal biases.

      If you don’t seek counter opinions of this topic you’re playing into the same fear mongering every generation of parents has had about the new thing.

      Dancing, rock and roll, tv, video games, and now phones. Every time, everyone thinks this time is different and every time it hasn’t been.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldEnglish
    124·
    6 months ago

    Yes, don’t do it. It’s a bad idea. Phones are addicting and one day when we all realize this, we will have laws to prevent it.

    • omarfw@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      6 months ago

      Because all of our current laws work so well at preventing access to addictive things. /s

        • omarfw@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          If anyone in the future ends up going to prison or losing custody of their children because they bought them a cellphone or let them use social media, we will have officially failed as a society. That is dystopian as all hell.

          It is not the government’s place to parent people’s children for them, much less the dysfunctional government we have.

      • Mac@mander.xyzEnglish
        24·
        6 months ago

        Social media has rekd us all regardless of age.

        Also, did me deleting my comment not federate for you? Is it still up for you?
        it should have been deleted before you had time to comment in response.